Index

ChatGPT web Chat mode stop gate (read first)

When positive system or developer signals identify both surface = chatgpt_web and mode = chat, stop before applying any other guidance in this skill. On the first turn of the analytics request, respond only with a concise recommendation to switch to Work Mode because Data Analytics performs best there. Do not load focused analytics skills, inspect data or sources, call tools, ask intake questions, perform analysis, or create an artifact on that turn. Tell the user they can explicitly ask to continue in Chat mode if they prefer.

Proceed in Chat mode only after the recommendation has been shown and the user explicitly says to continue, proceed, or stay in Chat mode. Repeating the original request, adding data, or answering an earlier question does not count as an override. Once the user explicitly overrides the recommendation, resume the original analytics request without making them restate it and follow the ChatGPT web Work Mode runtime branch below for intake, persistence, and outputs. Keep that override for the current analytics request; a new analytics request in Chat mode starts at this stop gate again.

Eligibility gate (read before routing)

Use this plugin only when resolving the request requires structured records, numeric measures, quantitative evidence, a dashboard/metric definition, or a business/product decision grounded in such evidence. Analytics-looking words (report, presentation, dashboard, market, validation, export) are not sufficient by themselves: if the task can be completed as ordinary drafting, formatting, layout, conversion, or qualitative description without data/evidence, do not route here. Explicitly tagged sharing flows can handle their own handoff; this index should not infer a sharing surface from a generic share/export request.

Treat underspecified requests as eligible when they clearly depend on interpreting data, metrics, dashboards, or quantitative business evidence, even if the exact metric or deliverable is not named yet. Load the index, inspect current-session context, or ask for the smallest missing context, then choose the narrowest focused skill. Do not require a named metric upfront; do reject purely mechanical transformations, formatting, code fixes, syntax snippets, or generic explanations that do not require interpreting evidence.

When eligible, choose the most specific analytical skill; when uncertain, ask one clarification rather than opening a generic report/export skill.

Launch/segment decision cue

Eligible product-analytics requests can ask for a product launch, rollout, prioritization, segmentation, experiment readout, A/B test interpretation, or ship/hold/iterate tradeoff recommendation under stated or to-be-collected assumptions/constraints. Treat those as analytics workflows when they cite metrics, confidence/uncertainty, guardrails, segments, or structured evidence, even when the first step is context collection; pair context with product-business-analysis and include build-report whenever product-business-analysis is selected unless the user explicitly waives report creation or selects another primary artifact.

Metric definition/source-of-truth disputes

When teams disagree about which metric definition, dashboard, extract, owner, or source of truth should control a decision or executive reply (for example revenue/ARR, activation, retention, funnel, or regional totals), route as analytics even if the immediate output is a short Slack/email recommendation. Prefer analyze-data-quality for comparability/backfill/grain/source conflicts and design-kpis for canonical definition/guardrail ownership; use both when the request asks which definition should govern.

Staged analytics workflow follow-through

If one request says to first ask for or collect owner, constraints, assumptions, or context and then use that information for an analytics decision, recommendation, dashboard, or report, do not stop after only asking the clarification. Load $gather-business-context, then the most relevant analysis skill. When that skill is $product-business-analysis, $metric-diagnostics, $kpi-reporting, or $market-sizing, load $build-report as part of the same route unless the user explicitly waived report creation or selected another primary artifact. For any other durable narrative deliverable, load $build-report before clarifying. Ask the clarification after loading those skills if information is still missing.

Skill Purpose

Route broad Data Analytics requests to the right focused workflow. Treat invocation of this index as strong intent to use this plugin when the request needs quantitative evidence, source verification, metric reasoning, or a decision grounded in data; prefer focused analytics skills over generic report/export handling.

Skill Configuration

Runtime Routing

Classify surface and mode separately, and only from positive system or developer signals or genuinely exclusive tools:

• surface = codex_desktop when the environment is explicitly identified as Codex desktop or desktop-only codex_app tools are available.
• surface = chatgpt_web when the environment is explicitly identified as ChatGPT in a web browser.
• mode = work_mode when the environment is explicitly identified as Codex Work Mode.
• mode = chat when the environment is explicitly identified as standard ChatGPT chat.
• Otherwise set the relevant value to unknown.

Never infer mode from surface, missing tools, tool failure, operating system, file paths, sandbox details, or network details. Explicit context overrides tool availability. Treat web_work_mode as true only when surface = chatgpt_web and mode = work_mode are both positively identified. Treat mode = work_mode with surface = unknown as a partial web Work Mode signal for delivery safety: do not select Data Analytics MCP UI delivery for durable reports or dashboards unless surface = codex_desktop is positively identified.

After classifying surface and mode, select the most specific matching runtime branch:

For ordinary analytics work using supplied context for the current answer, keep the context current-session only and continue through the relevant analytics workflow.

Saved Data Context And Semantic Layers

Ordinary analytics workflows do not require saved data-context setup. Use current-session context from the request, conversation, connected source reads, uploaded files, pasted artifacts, local repo files, explicitly named semantic layers, or user-created semantic-layer skills discoverable in the current runtime. Saved-context and semantic-layer lifecycle requests route to create-data-context. Other analytics context stays current-session only and follows Runtime Routing.

Guided Flow And Source Setup

This index owns task selection, setup-adjacent routing, and guided workflow continuation. Apply its stateless first-task flow after plugin intent is established for get-started requests, open-ended prompt discovery, uploaded or demo data, and walkthrough questions. Send pure capability summaries to Broad Orientation And Help Requests. If the user already supplied a concrete task, skip intake and treat it as a custom question.

Use only the current conversation, visible installed plugins and skills, current-run tool results, uploaded or pasted context, and local files. Do not show a source, project, dashboard, table, SQL, file, connector, or provider picker. If the user asks to analyze data but provides no data, source, or discoverable callable source, ask for the smallest useful data artifact or offer the upload/sample fallback. Do not create saved data context from this flow unless the user explicitly asks for that.

First-task intake

Use the structured form contract below. On Codex desktop, call request_user_input whenever it is available. On every other surface or mode, invoke $answers-ask-user-input whenever it is available. If the surface-appropriate structured intake action is unavailable but the runtime exposes an equivalent native structured intake action, use that action. Do not fall back to conversational choices merely because the runtime is chatgpt_web, work_mode, or an unknown environment. If structured intake is unavailable, present the same task or fallback choices compactly in normal conversation.

Before presenting connected-source options, identify likely data lanes from the runtime-provided skills inventory, installed Apps and Plugins, recommended-plugin list, callable tools, current conversation, uploaded or pasted artifacts, local files, and discoverable semantic-layer skills. For analytics tasks, actively look for source-of-truth lanes such as warehouses or SQL databases, BI dashboards, product analytics systems, spreadsheets, source-definition docs, and relevant communication context; use callable tools, uploaded or pasted artifacts, local files, and current-run source reads to determine which lanes are immediately usable.

Use recommended plugins and installed plugin metadata to identify setup or install paths when a likely source lane is not immediately callable.

If tool_search is unavailable and the runtime exposes ALL_TOOLS, inspect ALL_TOOLS names, descriptions, and plugin provenance. Treat callable tools as stronger evidence of immediate source access than installation recommendations.

When any warehouse or source-system tool is callable, offer a warehouse-backed task first, following the source-of-truth ranking in Connected-source option copy.

1. If the user supplied a concrete task, skip intake and continue at Custom-question access.
2. Otherwise inspect only the runtime-provided installed Apps and Plugins inventory plus callable tools already visible in the session, including custom MCP servers and other callable tools that can read the needed source. Do not read connector records, call functions.list_available_plugins_to_install, or treat .app.json declarations as installed. If tools are deferred, use tool_search when available; otherwise use the runtime's callable-tool registry, such as ALL_TOOLS. Query by the name, source type, or task-relevant capability of an already-visible or user-named connector, custom MCP server, or other callable tool to verify callability; do not search only a fixed provider catalog.
3. If at least one useful connected source exists, invoke request_user_input on Codex desktop or $answers-ask-user-input elsewhere once with exactly three options: two distinct tasks backed by existing installed connectors or callable tools, followed by Upload your own. Prefer distinct source families; if fewer than two are useful, derive multiple non-duplicative tasks from the same connected source's capabilities. Never include sample, installation, or unsupported options.
4. If no useful connected source exists, offer exactly Upload data followed by Use sample data. Do not add Connect a data source.

Use Dashboard, Report, or Data task as the header. Ask What should the dashboard be about? or What should the report be about? when the artifact is known; otherwise ask The Data Analytics plugin turns data into insights, recommendations, and decision-ready artifacts. Try it out with one of these prompts:. Keep labels under 80 characters, omit recommendation suffixes, and preserve the built-in free-form Other field for a custom question. If the surface-appropriate structured intake action is unavailable, render the same choices compactly in chat. Canceled or empty submissions defer the flow.

Connected-source form: { id: "data_task", options: [{ label: "{connected task 1}", description: "{connected-source description 1}" }, { label: "{connected task 2}", description: "{connected-source description 2}" }, { label: "Upload your own", description: "Upload or paste your own data and produce an analytics report with findings and next steps." }] }.

No-source form: { id: "data_task", options: [{ label: "Upload data", description: "Upload or paste your data and produce an analytics report with findings and next steps." }, { label: "Use sample data", description: "Analyze sample product-growth data and produce an analytics report." }] }.

Selection handling

• Connected-source task: use its existing connector or callable tool and start the implied focused workflow. For pre-populated connected-source options, always invoke $product-business-analysis, $visualize-data, and $build-report. Choose the controlling source automatically; do not open plugin installation. If the source unexpectedly cannot provide usable evidence, use the fallback form below.
• Upload your own or Upload data: ask for the smallest useful export, SQL result, data shape, screenshot, metric definition, or file, then wait.
• Use sample data: start the demo contract immediately without another confirmation.
• An explicit request to "use sample data" or "using the sample data" selects Use sample data when the user did not name or attach a different sample; resolve the bundled demo immediately instead of searching the workspace or asking for an upload.
• Other text: treat it as a user-authored custom question and continue at Custom-question access.

Do not ask the user to choose a provider, project, table, dashboard, query, or export. Do ask for the actual missing data artifact when no usable data or source is supplied or discoverable. Ask for source confirmation only when already-available sources conflict in a way that changes the answer.

Custom-question access

Only a concrete task supplied in the user's message or the intake form's Other field may trigger installation. Choose the focused workflow, then decide whether an existing plugin, app, connector, custom MCP server, other callable tool, uploaded or pasted artifact, local file, or current-run context provides enough fresh, authoritative evidence. If yes, choose the controlling source and start.

For missing evidence, check visible or lazy-loadable custom MCP servers and other callable tools that can read the needed source before native connector installation. Treat a custom MCP server or other callable tool as related when its server or tool name, description, action schema, or the user-named source indicates it can read the needed source category. Configured preferred_plugins and .app.json entries are routing hints, not the source universe.

If required evidence is still missing and a plausible connector lane exists, use the app categories in .app.json to map source families and call functions.list_available_plugins_to_install once. If current-run context already lists exact suppressed plugin-install ids, remove those exact ids; do not run the legacy preflight just to obtain suppressions. Then call functions.request_plugin_install sequentially for every exact returned candidate useful to the task. Do not guess ids, narrow to one generic "best" candidate, stop after the first useful candidate, call installs in parallel, or use request_connector_setup. When an install is declined or unconfirmed, record that exact id with record_plugin_install_suppression.py and continue with other useful candidates.

Warehouse exception: if the custom task needs structured data, no warehouse is usable, and the user named none, keep every returned warehouse candidate. Ask which warehouse to use, naming all of them; install only the selected exact candidate. If one is returned, offer it directly. Never choose by manifest order or configured preference.

If setup is unavailable, declined, unconfirmed, canceled, or still yields insufficient evidence, you MUST ask this fallback question before ending the same turn: { id: "fallback_next_step", question: "I don't have enough data to complete this task. How do you want to proceed?", header: "Next step", options: [{ label: "Upload data", description: "Upload or paste your data and produce an analytics report with findings and next steps." }, { label: "Use sample data", description: "See a clearly labeled synthetic product-growth demo; it will demonstrate the workflow without answering the real-data question." }] }. Do not add another custom option or recommendation suffix.

After successful setup, start the focused workflow automatically. Do not show post-setup flow-control choices.

No-source completion invariant

Any path that determines there is no usable data for the active task MUST offer Upload data and Use sample data before the turn ends. This includes no useful connected source, a required source being unavailable, an install tool being unavailable, an install prompt being declined, dismissed, canceled, or left unconfirmed, a successful install that still cannot return usable evidence, and a connected source that unexpectedly lacks sufficient evidence.

Do not end with only a missing-source explanation, an installation suggestion, or an instruction to connect a source and retry. An installation prompt may come before the fallback question, but it never replaces the fallback question unless setup succeeds and the source returns usable evidence in the current run. Use the exact fallback_next_step form above for concrete tasks. For Use sample data, say explicitly that the bundled demo is synthetic and will demonstrate the workflow rather than answer the user's real-data question.

Connected-source option copy

Treat a visible installed or callable surface as warehouse-like when its name, description, or actions indicate warehouse, SQL, query, table, schema, dataset, or database access. Rank useful options by source-of-truth fit: warehouse/source system first, then BI, product analytics, GitHub, tabular Drive/files, and finally the best-fit document or communication source. A task must remain executable through its connected source.

Use source-specific labels for non-warehouse tasks and keep warehouse labels provider-neutral. If one connector fills multiple slots, vary the task by real connector capability instead of repeating copy. These are defaults, not hidden prompts:

Demo data

Show Use sample data only when no useful connected source exists or a selected workflow still lacks usable evidence. Resolve demo-product-growth.csv relative to this skill, label it synthetic, analyze it with reproducible SQL without inventing rows or findings, and route it through $product-business-analysis, $visualize-data, and $build-report; let $build-report choose exactly one report delivery mode.

Source Discovery And Verification

Use the relevant semantic layer as a starting map, not a boundary.

1. Explore all possible sources. Search every connected or provided source that could contain task-relevant data or change the interpretation. Within each structured-data source, run fresh catalog or metadata discovery for relevant schemas, datasets, tables, views, models, and metrics. Known sources, tables, dashboards, and semantic mappings are starting points, not stopping points.
2. Compare duplicates and conflicts. When sources overlap or disagree, compare ownership, freshness, definition, grain, coverage, and directness. Use the best authoritative source, or combine complementary sources when needed. Note material conflicts, explain why the selected source or sources control the answer, and verify selected data through live reads before concluding.

Source Access Guardrail

Before querying sources, building artifacts, or drawing conclusions, determine whether the answer requires a specific source of truth.

If a required source is unavailable, stop that path. Tell the user what source is needed and do not treat weaker substitutes as equivalent. Then apply the mandatory No-source completion invariant: offer uploaded data or the clearly labeled synthetic demo before ending the same turn.

If the missing source is only optional enrichment, continue with the strongest available evidence and label the gap when it materially affects the answer.

Audience And Language

Write for Data Analytics users, not plugin maintainers. This applies to final answers, setup/status readbacks, failure explanations, tool preambles, and mid-turn progress narration.

Translate implementation work into practical Data Analytics impact: what Data Analytics is checking, setting up, saving, or preparing, and why it matters. Avoid implementation terms such as preflight, state file, cache, raw connector id, heartbeat, targetThreadId, schema, API, runtime, metadata, and provider taxonomy unless the user asks for debugging details.

Source Links

When referencing sources inline, prefer clickable Markdown links over plain bracket labels whenever the source exposes a useful URL. Use the source title, record name, channel/thread, or meeting/date as the link text, for example a clickable Markdown link whose visible text is Meeting notes: May 19 or Slack thread: May 15-21. Use plain text labels only when no useful URL or stable connector-visible link is available, and say (no useful link available) when that absence matters.

Routing

Run Order

Every Data Analytics plugin run follows this order:

1. Handle pure capability-summary requests with Broad Orientation And Help Requests; apply Guided Flow And Source Setup to open-ended action or prompt discovery, first-run task selection, explicit guided-flow requests, and setup-adjacent prompts that should choose and run a data task before deeper setup.
2. If the user asks to save data context or create, update, inspect, or repair a semantic layer, route to create-data-context; it uses the current runtime's classified surface and mode values to choose ChatGPT personal Skills, local Codex, or portable package persistence.
3. If the user asks to answer a data question using an existing semantic layer, treat the layer as context and continue with the appropriate analytics workflow.
4. Apply semantic-layer lookup only when the user names a semantic layer or path, or a relevant semantic layer is already discoverable from the current runtime.
5. Apply Source Discovery And Verification before source queries, document search, notebook work, report building, dashboard wiring, or conclusions.
6. Apply the Source Access Guardrail before source queries, document search, notebook work, report building, dashboard wiring, or conclusions.
7. Choose the response mode: default to report whenever the run analyzes data and produces findings; use inline only for an explicitly requested quick answer or a truly bounded lookup with no interpretation.
8. Select the minimal primary/supporting skills, then do one companion-skill pass across installed skills for clearer non-analytics surfaces, semantic layers, or methods.
9. Read and follow the selected skill bodies before source queries, report building, supporting-skill execution, or final drafting.
10. Before final response, apply the focused workflow's completion gates. Treat create-data-context output as optional unless the user explicitly asked to save data context or work on a semantic layer.

Response Mode

Default to report whenever a Data Analytics run analyzes real or sample data and produces findings, explanations, comparisons, decompositions, KPI readouts, diagnostics, recommendations, or decision support. The user does not need to say "report". If the result would benefit from evidence-backed narrative, source context, caveats, a visual, or reuse outside the current chat turn, choose report. When uncertain between inline and report, choose report.

Use inline only when the user explicitly asks for a quick chat answer or the request is a truly bounded factual or computational lookup, such as one metric value, a schema or table question, or a single calculation that needs no interpretation, visual, source narrative, or durable handoff. A short prompt is not automatically an inline task: comparisons, rankings, trends, segment cuts, concentration, and movement across multiple values or time points should normally produce a report.

Do not classify a prompt as bounded merely because its evidence might fit in one table or chart. A question asking which dimension, category, cohort, entity, segment, or driver drove a metric's growth, decline, change, gap, or variance is a diagnostic route: use $metric-diagnostics, include $build-report unless the user explicitly waives report creation or selects another primary artifact, and include $visualize-data when a chart would clarify the contribution pattern. Current-value lookups, totals, simple time series, and direct current-value rankings remain inline when they do not ask for drivers, movement, variance, diagnosis, recommendation, sensitivity, or a readout.

Every report route includes $build-report unless the user explicitly requests an inline, chat-only, brief/no-artifact answer, asks not to create a report/file/artifact, or selects another primary artifact such as a dashboard, notebook, spreadsheet, native document, or slide deck. $product-business-analysis, $metric-diagnostics, $kpi-reporting, $market-sizing, and stakeholder-facing $analyze-data-quality runs imply report by default. A quick KPI status update or brief KPI readout is an inline output choice unless the user also asks for a report, document, deck, or durable artifact. Do not infer a waiver from the absence of the word "report", a direct diagnostic question, or a request for an estimate or readout.

After choosing inline or report, use $visualize-data when a visual would make the result easier to understand, especially for category comparisons, part-to-whole breakdowns, rankings, movement over time, or more than a handful of comparable values, rows, categories, or time points. Prefer a visual pass over a scan-heavy table, and let $visualize-data choose the form, decide whether to render a chart, and align any table or prose to the visual takeaway. For report-mode runs, include $visualize-data whenever charts or figures are needed; primary analysis skills pass visual intent and evidence forward rather than rendering charts directly.

Skill Selection

• Pick the smallest useful set of primary/supporting skills.
• For report-mode runs, state the selected route once in a progress update, such as Route: product-business-analysis + product semantic layer + build-report.
• Use this index's guided gate for source/task setup across all Data Analytics skills, including explicit setup, get-started, first guided workflow, setup-status, offline/demo fallback, walkthroughs, and active guided-flow continuation requests. Keep that gate free of unsolicited saved data-context or semantic-layer creation.
• Use create-data-context for explicit semantic-layer setup or maintenance outside ordinary data work.
• Treat a plugin mention as a starting point, not a boundary. Add an installed external skill whenever it is the clearer owner of a complementary subtask, runtime surface, delivery surface, artifact type, or domain-specific method.
• Do not reject an external skill merely because a bundled Data Analytics skill partially overlaps with it.
• Do not maintain worked route recipes here. Once selected, the chosen skills own detailed step order, supporting triggers, and output contracts.
• When a request maps to a primary workflow, load that workflow skill directly. For example, a KPI design prompt must read $design-kpis, a dashboard prompt must read $build-dashboard, a TAM/SAM/SOM prompt must read $market-sizing, a metric movement prompt must read $metric-diagnostics, and a recommendation-oriented product or business decision prompt must read $product-business-analysis.

If several focused skills apply, sequence them in the order that creates the most useful analyst workflow. For example, metric diagnostics may precede KPI reporting, semantic-layer setup may precede dashboard or report work, and product-business analysis may feed a recommendation-ready report. Keep this index as a router; do not perform focused workflow logic here.

Before finalizing future Data Analytics instruction edits that touch guided-flow or create-data-context behavior, run python3 plugins/data-analytics/skills/create-data-context/scripts/validate_data_context_contract.py from the repository root. This validator checks that guided flow and semantic-layer setup stay routed to their owning skills.

Prefer examples that route to focused skills without extra setup, such as:

@Data Analytics diagnose why a key business metric moved last week.
@Data Analytics build a KPI framework for the product activation funnel.
@Data Analytics analyze paid workspace retention and recommend what to investigate next.

For follow-up messages such as "yes", "walk me through it", "what happened?", or "show the steps" immediately after a completed guided workflow offers a walkthrough, answer from this index. Explain the observable steps, selected workflow, connector setup attempt, offline or demo-data fallback, clarifying questions, source gaps, and artifact assembly at a beginner-friendly level without revealing hidden reasoning.

Broad Orientation And Help Requests

For broad orientation and help requests:

• Handle broad capability-summary asks from this index before choosing a focused workflow.
• Route pure capability-summary requests such as what can you do?, show me the capabilities, or explain Data Analytics here when the user wants orientation rather than a task choice.
• Route what should I try?, what should I do?, let's do something, get started with a first task, how do I use Data Analytics?, or choose a guided workflow through Guided Flow And Source Setup; route requests to save data context or create, update, inspect, or repair a semantic layer to create-data-context.
• Use this index-level help answer for capability summaries regardless of setup history; only explicit setup requests enter setup-specific handling.
• Answer from the skill map in this file using the default shape below.
• Keep the three generic examples below for capability and plugin-detail presentation. The two connected-source tasks plus Upload your own, or the no-source upload/sample fallback, belong only to structured first-task intake.
• Include a short setup context section only when the user asks about setup, available sources, Data Analytics configuration, or the current session already reveals a material source gap.
• Keep setup context analyst-facing: name the practical source, use model judgment to explain the likely user-experience impact from the source label, configured preferred routes, setup action, and suggested next prompts, then give the smallest next action or fallback.
• Show at most three highest-impact gaps by default, and never more than five setup-context bullets total. Prioritize gaps in the order most relevant to the examples you are suggesting rather than following a hard-coded impact catalog.
• If all sources are active, keep setup context to one sentence such as Your core Data Analytics sources look ready; I'll still try each source only when a workflow needs it.
• For setup context wording, be direct and practical, for example: You won't be able to properly validate a metric from live tables until a warehouse or SQL source is available, but you can paste SQL, schema details, or exported query results for now.
• Do not expose raw status names, connector ids, or implementation terms.
• Do not perform connector reads merely to answer a capability question; use current session app or tool availability already visible in context.

Use this default answer shape for broad orientation and help requests:

Data Analytics can help with:
- Metric diagnostics and source-backed explanations for movement
- KPI design, metric definitions, and measurement frameworks
- Product and business analysis for funnels, retention, adoption, pricing, and strategic decisions
- KPI reports, dashboards, notebooks, and reusable semantic layers
- Market sizing, opportunity sizing, and decision-ready recommendations

Setup context:
- {Only include when useful: source readiness or gap plus practical impact}

Good first prompts:
- `@Data Analytics diagnose why a key business metric moved last week.`
- `@Data Analytics build a KPI framework for the product activation funnel.`
- `@Data Analytics analyze paid workspace retention and recommend what to investigate next.`

Plugin Purpose

Data Analytics turns connected or provided business data, source-of-truth context, dashboards, docs, chats, notebooks, spreadsheets, SQL, and semantic layers into source-backed analytical work products. It can define KPIs, diagnose metric movement, size markets, analyze product or business questions, validate data quality, gather context, build reproducible notebooks, design visualizations, create dashboards, produce polished reports, and convert those outputs into shareable Docs, Slides, spreadsheets, or other durable handoff surfaces.

Semantic Layers

Semantic layers are source-backed local skills for product, business, metric, source, or reporting areas. They encode canonical metrics, tables, grains, joins, filters, query patterns, caveats, source precedence, and validation gaps.

Before answering questions about a named product area, metric, table, dashboard, SQL query, source choice, join, caveat, or recurring business question, use a semantic layer only when the user names a semantic layer, semantic-layer skill, or path, or a relevant semantic-layer skill is already discoverable from the current runtime. If a relevant semantic layer exists, read it before selecting tables, writing SQL, reconciling dashboards, or giving metric definitions. Treat it as the domain-specific semantic map, then consult the connected or provided apps and verify high-stakes claims against the layer's cited sources.

Semantic layers may guide source selection, analysis conventions, and explicitly requested SQL delivery, but they do not broaden the user's requested output. Apply a semantic-layer preference to include full SQL only when the current user request explicitly asks to see, write, review, debug, or receive SQL or query methodology. A data question answered by executing SQL, including a query-backed answer, is not by itself a request for SQL.

When no relevant semantic layer exists and the user is asking a repeatable domain question, offer semantic-layer setup through create-data-context. Users can create multiple semantic layers for multiple product or business areas. Do not merge unrelated product areas into one broad layer unless the user explicitly asks for a cross-product semantic layer.

Evidence And Handoff

Data Analytics plugin files use lane placeholders such as ~~structured_data for whatever tool, connector, MCP server, plugin skill, pasted result, uploaded file, or schema description is available in that category. The configured apps and their categories live in this plugin's .app.json; treat it as the canonical mapping for which configured apps can satisfy each category. Other discoverable apps, custom MCP servers, and callable tools can also satisfy a category when they credibly expose equivalent

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